Ethnography

Method categorization
Quantitative	Qualitative
Inductive	Deductive
Individual	System	Global
Past	Present	Future

Annotation: Ethnography is both a process and an outcome - the final written product - of qualitative research (3). This article will focus on the process, giving an overview of different kinds of ethnographic research and its correlating methods.

Short Definition

Ethnography can be regarded one of the most important qualitative research methods that looks back on a long tradition but also many transitions. Deriving from the discipline of anthropology, ethnology is vital for social sciences, although today it cannot be equated with one specific disciplinary background. Brewer defines ethnography as “the study of people in naturally occurring settings or ‘fields’ by methods of data collection which capture their social meanings and ordinary activities, involving the researcher participating directly in the setting, if not also the activities, in order to collect data in a systematic manner but without meaning being imposed on them externally.” (2)

Key Terms

As you can see in the defining paragraph above, several different parameters or 'ingredients' are needed for conducting ethnographic research. See the following list with short explanations of the key terms:

Ethnographer: Ethnographers are the researchers studying the meaning of behaviour, language and interaction of people belonging to a specific group. They are always concerned with the social and cultural context of things, they indetify patterns of social organization.
Culture-sharing group: This is the subject of study - typically a relatively large group of people who share a cultural background of some sort, interact with each other on a regular basis and have done so for some time. Both the wohle group or a subset of it can be studied (3). Traditionally this group was a foreign people, but it could be any formed group such as people working together in an office, a family or people living in a community.
Field: The field is the ethnographers main place of reasearch. It is the natural and social environment of the studied group. If the ethnographer wants to study how students interact and behave, the field would a school or a classroom.
Participant Observation: This is the most prominent practice of ethnography. The researcher is immersed in the day-to-day lives of the people in the group and observes their behaviour and interactions - not from an external perspective, but by becoming a member of the group (3).
Data Collection: Based on the observations the ethnographer collects data - the 'field work'. The success of an ethnography depends on the quality and quantity of data collected. Data can be field notes taken during observation, interview transcripts, written/visual/oral material or objects from the group (1). After collecting data, the researcher needs to analyse it and bring it into social/cultural context.

Background

Where ethnography used to be understood as experiencing and studying “foreign cultures” , it is now successfully used in disciplines like cultural and media studies, psychology, studies of work and organizations or education (1).

Criticism

How the method works

As we now know, there are many different ways of doing ethnography due to different disciplinary and regional approaches.

Strengths & Challenges

Ethnography has deep and diverse roots, includes wide-ranging methods and many applications (1)
As a method, it pays attention to the realities of everyday life of different groups of people (1)
Ethnography is very inclusive - no group of people is excluded from ethnographic studies

The field is quite broad and diffuse and it is difficult to give a proper definition (1)
It is not tied to a specific discipline, which can be an advantage, but this leads to various approaches and ultimately contradictions (1)

References

(1) Atkinson, Paul/Delamont, Sara/Coffey, Amanda (2007): Handbook of Ethnography. London et al.: Sage.
(2) Brewer, John D. (2000): Ethnography
(3) Creswell, John (2013): Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. London et al.: Sage.
(4) Fetterman, David (1998): Ethnography. Step by Step.